“The qilin…” Zhu Erlang was dumbstruck. Should he go back and cheat to win another qilin? Looking at the tailless qilin, he felt like crying. If he gave it now, what kind of gift would a broken-tailed qilin make? But if he didn’t, how could he continue with the script he had rehearsed all last night? He held the sugar qilin, staring fixedly at Ji Yingying, his face flushing red with anxiety.

Ji Yaoting also felt like beating his chest and crying. How could you be so careless? What you dropped was an opportunity, my brother! Say something quickly, don’t just stand there stupefied… I don’t know how to continue with my play either!

Ji Yingying kept her head down, staring at her toes in silence. Zhu Erlang had good intentions; even if she didn’t like him, she couldn’t kick him while he was down by criticizing him for planning to give her a tailless sugar qilin. Besides, Yang Jingyuan was the one who broke the qilin’s tail.

He had deliberately broken the sugar qilin’s tail. Why would he help her? Last time she had dyed his horse, earned his silver, and left him by the river – was he not holding a grudge? Ji Yingying secretly glanced at Yang Jingyuan.

Yang Jingyuan was bowing with clasped hands, apologizing to Zhu Erlang: “I’m sorry! It wasn’t intentional. Let me compensate you with silver!”

Breaking others’ things and settling it with money – typical wastrel behavior from Yang Jingyuan.

But not everyone thought like him. A sugar qilin was different; winning one in front of so many people carried a different meaning than simply paying Sugar Artist Zhang to make one. Though Zhu Erlang’s expression was unpleasant, he remained magnanimous, pushing the qilin into his servant’s hands with a smile: “I should thank you for helping me up. This… it’s a small matter. Mentioning silver would be looking down on me, Zhu Erlang.”

Oh, not bad at all. Just a bit slow-witted – no wonder Second Miss Ji doesn’t like him. Yang Jingyuan was still smiling and thanking Zhu Erlang for his generosity when he heard Ji Yaoting say quietly to Ji Yingying: “Your brother’s judgment isn’t wrong, Zhu Erlang is truly a good man, isn’t he?”

Yang Jingyuan understood now – the handsome young man standing beside Ji Yingying was her brother. As her elder brother, was he trying to push Zhu Erlang to compete with Zhao Xiu Yuan for the marriage? His peripheral vision caught Ji Yingying.

Ji Yingying nodded slightly. She couldn’t deny that the magnanimous Zhu Erlang, who easily made friends, was quite decent. But did she have to like someone just because they were good? She lowered her head again, dejected.

She nodded and acted shy. How could her taste be so poor? With Zhu Erlang’s fat head and big ears, topped with that red face – exactly like a piece of braised pork – how could she not find him greasy? Yang Jingyuan was convinced there must be something wrong with Ji Yingying’s judgment.

“Second Miss, don’t be angry. Next time I’ll win another qilin for you.” If he succeeded once, he could surely succeed again. Zhu Erlang grew nervous again.

Ji Yingying shook her head: “Thank you for your kindness, Second Brother Zhu. A qilin comes by chance, not by seeking. Let’s go view the chrysanthemums at the temple.”

“Since I damaged my brother’s qilin, I naturally should compensate for it. I’ll go win a qilin to make up for it!” Going to view chrysanthemums together? Why not invite me? It was my help that let you avoid accepting his qilin. Yang Jingyuan deliberately raised his voice, making Ji’s siblings and Zhu Erlang stop in their tracks. This drew laughter from the surrounding crowd.

“If qilins were so easy to win, old Zhang would be drinking northwest wind at home!”

“I bet ten copper coins he won’t get it!”

“I’ll bet ten too!”

Zhu Erlang became embarrassed instead: “Brother needn’t take it to heart.”

Yang Jingyuan lifted his chin, face full of disdain: “It’s just winning a qilin, leave it to me, Young Master Yang. A small matter.”

Zhu Erlang was speechless for a moment. For this qilin, he had gone to Sugar Artist Zhang’s home earlier and given him two strings of cash. Zhang had only agreed after hearing it was to please a young lady. Then he had just thrown in another tael of silver. These three strings of cash had taken him a long time to save. How had it become just a small matter? He irritably twisted the silver-plated magnetic ring on his finger – there was iron wire hidden in those bamboo strips, and without this magnetic ring, he didn’t believe Yang Jingyuan could win a qilin.

After speaking, Yang Jingyuan glanced at Ji Yingying before striding toward the sugar art stall. This glance was accurately caught by Ji Yaoting. He had thought Yang Jingyuan was just a passerby. Unexpectedly, he knew his sister. That qilin with the broken tail… Ji Yaoting felt he understood everything now. He observed Yang Jingyuan with the standard of evaluating a potential brother-in-law. Eight chi tall, commanding presence, wearing brocade clothes, handsome features. Ah, this man’s conditions were far better than Zhu Erlang’s! No, this must be another young master from some wealthy family. Why couldn’t his sister lower her standards a bit? Still, he was better than Zhao Xiu Yuan. With Madam Zhao harboring hatred, his sister would surely suffer if she married into their family. Whatever – catch one while you can. Even if it didn’t work out, it could dilute his sister’s desire to marry Zhao Xiu Yuan.

The higher the stage, the better the show. Ji Yaoting put his arm around the bewildered Zhu Erlang: “What do you say – what if he wins a qilin?”

Zhu Erlang shook his head: “Impossible.”

Ji Yaoting smiled: “Let’s watch. Sister, come along.”

The group followed behind Yang Jingyuan back to the sugar art stall.

Ji Yingying was also curious whether Yang Jingyuan could win a qilin. Earlier, he seemed to have mentioned some tricks about winning sugar art, but unfortunately, she had been preoccupied with figuring out how to avoid accepting Zhu Erlang’s qilin.

Having produced one sugar qilin today, someone wanted to try for another. Onlookers packed the sugar art stall until not even water could flow through.

Though business was good, Sugar Artist Zhang couldn’t quite smile. He recognized Yang Jingyuan and began melting sugar with a troubled face as he opened his bundle. He wasn’t sure if he had brought enough sugar today.

“One, two, three… hmm, count the two maids too.” Yang Jingyuan muttered a count, pulled out a one-tael silver ingot from his purse, and said to Sugar Artist Zhang with a grin: “Old Zhang, no need for change. Five copper coins per try, let me try five times, alright?”

Oh, he could still earn five hundred copper coins. Sugar Artist Zhang squinted with a smile: “Thank you for your patronage, young master.” He took up his copper ladle and began drawing on the stone slab. The sugar syrup flowed in continuous lines, his technique is as natural as flowing clouds and running water.

Yang Jingyuan announced loudly: “Watch carefully!” His finger flicked the bamboo strips on the lottery wheel.

The yellow bamboo strip spun into a yellow blur, spinning slower and slower until it gradually stopped. The triangular tip of the bamboo strip moved to the qilin square. Everyone held their breath.

“He really might win it… Haha, it’s a peach!”

The force was slightly too strong, and the strip passed the qilin to stop at the peach square. Laughter erupted all around.

Zhu Erlang breathed a sigh of relief: “Brother’s good intentions are appreciated. It’s a small matter, don’t take it to heart.”

What a pity, you can’t win a qilin to please my sister either. Ji Yaoting sighed repeatedly.

“Just testing the force on the first try, what’s the hurry!” Yang Jingyuan was also puzzled. When he was young, his stepmother had invited Sugar Artist Zhang to their manor. Out of curiosity and boredom, he had spun the lottery wheel thousands of times. Combined with his martial arts training from childhood, he had excellent control over his strength. He had never missed when spinning Sugar Artist Zhang’s lottery wheel. He couldn’t believe this.

The bamboo strip spun five consecutive times, landing either on the peach to the right of the qilin or the butterfly to the left.

Yang Jingyuan’s face turned green.

Ji Yingying finally cheered up, leaning on Ying’er’s shoulder, her body shaking with laughter.